Posts

Segmenting and Scarves

Yesterday I was able to teach a segmenting lesson to the PM Kindergarten class. I warmed them up by revisiting the "Alphabet Sound Song" from a previous lesson to remind them how to make shapes of letters with their bodies. Mrs. Roberts and I wanted the class to use a prop for this last lesson because they respond well to visual stimuli. We used scarves throughout the rest of the lesson to draw letters in the air, and to assist with making letter shapes. One student in particular used the scarf as the "long stick" of a t and used her forearm as the "short stick" of the t....it was brilliant, and adorable. I am so appreciative of the opportunity I have had to teach these two Kindergarten classes and am sad that the experience is almost through. Getting to witness dance through the eyes of a young child is magical and I hope to carry what I have learned from them with me throughout the rest of my teaching.
2 comments
Read more

+ Addition 1 through 10 +

Teaching this lesson today was so much fun! The second the kids got to class, they were ready to dance and could not stop jumping for joy. Most of the students caught on very quickly to dancing out each number and wanted to bolt ahead and solve higher numbered math problems...I was very impressed. I was originally going to use dice for the end of the lesson, but switched to dominos at the last minute because I thought it would be quicker, and thankfully it was! The kids loved volunteering to pick a domino and solve addition problems using the numbers that were on them. Throughout the semester we have also been working on raising their hands and thinking of answers by themselves before calling them out and I must say, they have gotten so much better at that. Overall, I was very pleased with the kids quickness to pick up the material, as well as their ability to be challenged with math and dance at the same time.
1 comment
Read more

The ABC Sounds

Today and last week I worked with the AM and PM Kindergarten on dancing the ABC's. We started with a fun alphabet song that only says the sounds of each letter. The kids would then create a shape with their body that matched the letter that the sound was making. They did pretty well, especially because the song moved quickly. This part of the lesson was my favorite and I believe it was the kids favorite as well. (The ideas here were adapted from Jana Shumway) I showed the kids a letter and they would call out what letter it was. Then they would make the sound the letter makes. Each letter also had a dance word associated with that letter. We would then dance out that word. For example, the dance word for the letter S was skip, so we would skip around the room as a class. The dance word for the letter T was twist, so we would make a twisting shape as a class. The kids were very enthusiastic about this lesson because they know the alphabet fairly well. They could use some mo
3 comments
Read more

Kindergarten is F-U-N!

Hello! My name is Amy Call and I am an arts bridge scholar at Vineyard Elementary this semester. I love teaching dance and am excited to be integrating core curriculum with dance to hopefully further these children's learning experience. On September 13, I taught a shapes and levels lesson to the AM Kindergarten of Mrs. Roberts class. They were mostly all excited to be dancing and move around. I did not anticipate that so many children would get hurt right off the bat though. As we moved the desks one boy in particular got his arm smashed in between the desks. Everything turned out okay, but what a rough start to the day! The kids seemed eager to learn and always had something to say, but once the rules and guidelines were set for the class, they did pretty well at dancing with their bodies and not with their mouths. I originally tried tying in dance shapes (curve, twist, bend, & straight) to something they are already familiar with like geometry shapes (circle, trian
1 comment
Read more